Wow, I’m already starting to miss self-isolation. No, it’s not over yet but the writing is appearing on the wall that things are about to change again. As we appear to be able to manage the spread of infection and more importantly the signs that deaths are likely about to drop, there will be a push for everyone to go back to work. Of course, there will be caveats with social distancing, masks, aggressive reminders to wash hands and some services remaining limited but we are heading for the isolation exit.

Why would I miss it? For 30 days I’ve looked at the sky in amazement to see it in ways nobody has seen in over 100 years. I can smell the plants on our walks, even when we’ve not had rain that might kick up the old petrichor. I live near an intersection that is never quiet, even on Christmas, but over the past weeks, there have been absolutely silent moments. Caroline and I have eaten more home-cooked meals in a month than we have in the previous nearly 30 years and with that, we’ve likely eaten a lot healthier too. We’ve not likely saved much money as we’ve both been a bit indulgent about online shopping, though neither of us has gone off some kind of deep end. After a month we are as in love as ever with no more friction than at any other time. What we do look forward to when travel limitations are gone is that we can speed up to the Oregon Coast to take in what California and Oregon look like under pristine skies.

Our circadian rhythms haven’t budged and by-and-large we are still waking at around 5:00 in the morning. While basking in the beauty of the pristine mornings we have day after day there is a sense of dread as our walk takes us along a couple of larger streets: at some point, the traffic will return. Sadly, I don’t think the momentum of the industrial revolution will be swept aside as quickly as I’d like to see. Give me electric vehicles of all sorts with special consideration for those who want to use smaller personal size transportation instead of 2-ton gas spewing hunks of steel. Even with our reduced traffic flow neither Caroline nor I feel safe about crossing at our intersection as the people careening through it don’t have a habit of looking for pedestrians as we are a rare breed in the desert where everyone insists that a car is a mandatory asset to live a good life, but then they don’t take the time to see what we see.